Deep In My Heart
by Ellie In ElfPajamas
Summary: ALTERNATE UNIVERSE! Four and Five up! Elrond meets Glorfindel on a field of battle for the first time in, well, who knows how long.
1. Chapter One

Deep In My Heart

A tale of romance and fretful Elves by Ellie in ElfPajamas.

Rating: PG13. Frightening scenes, some things that may be deemed 'suggestive'.

Genre: Angst/Humor/Spiritual/Drama/Romance

Summary: Caladriel has big news for her cousin Rinnalaiss in Rivendell, she's pregnant! Faelon is working hard to make the Southern Mirkwood fortress where he and Calad live a comfortable and Elfling-proof home, but he's running into trouble there. Legolas thinks he's too young to be an uncle. Melannen seems to have gained weight, Erestor seems a little jumpy, and Glorfindel is trying to get to the bottom of this mess. Elrond has been left blissfully ignorant, yet again.

Series: Yes! The Imladris Chronicles. While Cassia covers Legolas and Aragorn, I think I'll cover Glorfindel and Erestor. Previous stories were _The Misadventures of Caladriel and Rinnalaiss_ and _Gilded Rose of the House of Gondolin. Takes place four months after Gilded Rose._

Disclaimer: I do not own Erestor, Glorfindel, Elrond, Estel, Legolas, Elladan, Elrohir, Thranduil, Imladris, or the hobbit drinking songs. I do not own Mirkwood either, but neither does Tolkien.

Claimer: I do own Faelon, Caladriel, Faelien, Faeliel, Shadow, Naur, WhisperingSilver, WindDancer, MithrilArrow, and Rinn's snowpeas. Ask before using them.

Melannen is owned by the authoress Erestor, and Rinnalaiss was borrowed from Rinnalaiss Turegwaithen with permission.

Chapter one: Changes for Faelon.

Being married to the princess of Mirkwood was no picnic. Faelon had gone into the marriage knowing that, but he hadn't expected Caladriel to be so 'fruitful' right away. He'd thought he'd have a little more time to work on making the fortress 'childproof', but apparently Iluvatar had other ideas. Quite honestly, the poor half-Elf didn't have a clue how to make the many passages and nooks and crannies child-safe. His father-in-law was trying to help, but he was having too much fun dreaming of grandchildren.

Caladriel's pregnancy was showing, as well. Everyone knew that there would be an Elfling in the household of the Elvenking's son-in-law. Finally, Faelon snapped.

"Father, what in Arda did you do to Elfling-proof the palace when Legolas and Calad were small?" Faelon cried out in frustration.

Thanduil colored.

"Nothing." he said.

"Nothing?! You mean they just ran around through the palace, explored the dungeons and all manner of dangerous places, and you did nothing to stop them?"

"Essentially, yes. When they were tired enough or hungry enough they found their way back."

Faelon's jaw dropped.

"You must understand, Faelon, it wasn't because I didn't care, it was just that I knew they'd find a way past all the barriers even if the Valar devised them. Elflings are like that. So think about it this way; if your Elfling goes missing, look wherever you least want it to be first."

Faelon's image of Thranduil as intellegent, wise, benevolent lord of Mirkwood had just gone on an extended vacation.

Elrond's eye twitched. Too....Much...Paperwork! He wanted to scream and smash his head on the desk at the same time, partly because he couldn't decide which to do first.

"Erestor, you're never around when I need you!" Elrond whimpered.

He had two dozen reports to read today and his brain had suddenly gone on holiday.

Elves may never get sick, but that doesn't mean a hasseled, sleep-deprived Elven Lord never gets a tension headache. Estel had made his week a miserable one. He'd had a riding accident, bumped his head, and scared the living daylights out of both Elrond and the twins. Really all he'd had was a goosegg on the back of his head and a bit of bruising, but otherwise, he was right as rain. It had not been a good way for Elrond to start the week though. Worrying that your adopted son is in mortal danger is never a good way to start one's week.

Elrond wanted to shoot himself for what he was about to do, but he did it anyway. He walked into Erestor and Glorindel's 'space'. Their offices were in the same room, where they could hurl papers at each other and compare notes. Glorfindel was out like a light, his head resting on a sheaf of finally finished notes. Erestor was humming a ballad as he filed papers away in his latest invention, the filing cabinet. Erestor's office had become much more organized, due in large part that it embarassed him when his wife picked up after him. Melannen was nowhere in sight. Elrond's hopes sank.

"E-Erestor, could I ask you for a favor?" Elrond asked.

Erestor nodded, punctuating a sentence.

"I can't read those reports, Estel has given me a headache. Can Melannen go over them and paraphrase them for me?" Elrond asked.

Erestor nodded again and pointed toward the kitchen.

"She's baking. If she doesn't hit you with a rolling pin first, I'm sure she'll be happy to help you."

Erestor began to chew furiously on the butt of his pen. He was working on an 'official refusal', a dreadfully diplomatic and polite document, and having trouble finding sappy enough words.

"No wine, Rinn. Go to bed." Glorfindel murmured in his sleep. "Now see here, you can't be leaving these tunics all over."

Elrond raised an eyebrow to Erestor.

"Don't ask me. I think it's all in his head. I pity him, he's stuck with her all day and then he dreams about her." Erestor muttered.

Rinn did have a special brand of torture reserved for her favorite Gondolin Elf. She talked his ears off and generally made him crazy. Elrond knew it, but Glorfindel had seemed so resilient to it before. Maybe Rinn needed other distractions.

Celboril deposited a sack of mail on Erestor's desk. Erestor began to sort it quite mindlessly, pondering what words he needed for this letter of refusal. He handed Elrond his mail, nodded to the Elf Lord, and got back to work. Elrond decided to take it back to his office before he asked Melannen to help him with the reports.

Elrond sifted through the mail. Elven junkmail was quite a problem. It seemed that all the Elves in Arda wanted to write to the great Lord Elrond Peredhil, but quite honestly, there weren't enough hours in a day for Elrond to answer a fraction of the letters he got. So a letter from Faelon Beriorgan's fortress in Southern Mirkwood actually came as a pleasant surprise. It was a letter from Calad, inviting Elrond to send Rinn out to Mirkwood to spend the winter. Faelon had many horses, and Rinn just loved a full stable. A gleam of delight stole into Elrond's eyes. He'd unloaded one daughter on her maternal grandmother, now his other daughter could be shipped off to distant relatives? This was too good to be true.

If his memory served him right, Calad was somewhere near six months pregnant. Hmm. It might not be a great idea to send Rinn out there after all. Then again, it was Calad asking, and they had dungeons, so if Rinn got _too_ out of hand, they could always lock her up. Not seeing or hearing her till spring could be a welcome thing. He went to the bottom of the steps and whistled.

Aragorn and Rinn thundered to the top of the steps, racing each other. Elladan and Elrohir scrambled to catch up as their little sister and adopted younger brother went flying down the steps to their father.

Elrond put up his hand to halt them.

"Rinn, Calad has invited you to winter out there in Mirkwood with the Beriorgans. Faelon says you can exercise horses till you fall over. Do you want to go?" Elrond asked.

Rinn arched an eyebrow.

"Do horses whinny?"

"I'll take that as a yes."

Estel and the twins groaned enviously.

"Lucky little girl! You get to ride those horses and we haven't even seen our mares for months." Elladan sighed.

The twins had left the mares to be bred, they were in foal to MithrilArrow right now. They missed the whispy little creatures, and missed them badly.

"Well, someone has to take Rinn out there, so you two and Estel may. Just don't stay so long that the pass freezes up." Elrond said.

The niggling fear in the back of his mind was that they would stay and the house would be much too quiet.

Glorfindel had an abstract thought that his forehead was rubbing against paper for some reason. He heard a distant voice calling his name, and wondered if he was dreaming about being dead. Oh well, at least it was a rather peaceful sort of dead. Then he felt a tug on his hair, and that didn't feel too good. He blinked sleepilly and saw letters dancing in front of his eyes. He sat bolt upright with a piece of paper stuck to his forehead.

"Glorfindel! I asked if you wanted lunch yet, it's almost 2:30." Erestor asked, pulling the paper off of Glorfindel's face.

The golden Elf squinted in the sudden light, and Erestor was hard pressed not to laugh, because the ink on the paper had left backwards Elvish lettering across Glorfindel's forehead.

"What's for lunch?" Glorfindel asked groggilly.

"I don't know, think maybe we should go find out? You need to start sleeping on your bed rather than your desk." Erestor said.

"I know," Glorfindel sighed, "but I haven't even made it out of my chair this week. I think I might have a slight sleep problem."

"Well, it's that or you just don't know when to lay your work aside and go to bed. There's this wonderful thing, it's called a clock, and you use it to tell time. It sits on your desk all the time. Maybe, just maybe, you should look at it once in a while."

Glorfindel grinned sheepishly.

"I forget to keep it wound."

Erestor rolled his eyes.

The two counselors walked down the hall to the kitchen. Melannen was working at the counter when they walked in. Erestor wrapped his arms around her and gave her a big kiss. Melannen smiled.

"What do you want? Did you two fall asleep at your desks and sleep through lunch again?"

"Glorfindel did, but I was working on one of those 'diplomatic refusal' letters for Elrond."

Glorindel gave her a sleepy smile.

Melannen laughed softly and shook her head, then set to work making lunch for Glorfindel and her husband.

Erestor and Melannen chattered back and forth, and Glorfindel chose to 'rest his eyes' for a moment. The minute he rested his head on his arm, he was out like a light. His long golden hair slid over his shoulders onto the marble countertop of the kitchen island. He drifted away to dreamland. He dreamed about when the twins and Arwen were little, before Rinn was born. They'd been so cute and innocent. _What went wrong?_

Mmmm, he smelled food. Food was good. Another distant voice called him to wake up and eat. That didn't sound like a bad idea. He opened his eyes and lifted his head from the countertop. Melannen pushed a plate in front of him.

"Come now, Glor, it's your favorite. Eat and then drag yourself to bed." Melannen coaxed.

It was indeed his favorite. He really liked cold ham and turkey. And there was lettuce, and tomato, and, oh, it was just the perfect sandwich.

"Thank you." he said.

He picked up the plate and turned to go.

"I think I'll take it to my room, eat it, and then read a good book till I fall asleep."

Melannen and Erestor nodded and watched him leave.

Melannen turned to Erestor.

"What happened? He was the hyperactive one, why is he the sleepy head now?" she asked.

Erestor shrugged.

"I guess I'll have to figure it out somehow. Can't have him asleep at his desk all the time."

Melannen smiled and started putting food in a basket.

"So, ready for our picnic?"

Erestor nodded.

"Where do you want to go?"

"How about the back garden, I want to talk to you about something."

Faelon was dead to the world. His blankets were all pulled around him and he was perfectly cozy. Calad thought he looked so cute that way. His curly hair was all fluffy, and curls drifted lazilly over his forehead. It was early in the morning, and he didn't have to get up yet. She rather liked to just sit and watch him when he was sleeping. She smiled, reaching for a loose, lazy curl. She smoothed it back into the rest of his hair. He blinked, but he didn't seem awake.

"Why is it you have the eyelashes I would kill for?" Calad breathed, tracing her husband's face with light fingers.

He stirred, bringing her hand to his lips and kissing it.

"Good morning dear one," he whispered.

He opened his gentle green eys and looked at his wife. She smiled and rubbed her forehead against his.

"I like being married to you." she giggled. "You're always at my beck and call."

"Aye, the perils of marrying a princess." Faelon laughed softly.

Calad traced his collarbones with her index finger.

"Now stop that, you give me goosebumps!" Faelon murmured, moving to get out of bed.

"I didn't give you permission to leave me yet!" Calad teased, pulling him back down onto the bed beside her.

"Well pardon me, your highness, but there are many matters to which I must attend this morning."

"Well then, I want my good morning kiss."

Faelon smiled.

Erestor walked past Elrond looking like something had exploded in his face, minus the soot. Elrond tried to hail him, but to no avail. Erestor was sincerely not with it. Melannen had paraphrased the reports, but Elrond wanted to ask Erestor a few accounting questions. Glorfindel bounced down the hallway, quite awake. Since Elrond was heading for bed, that was exactly what he didn't want to see. Glorfindel smiled brightly at Elrond and continued down the stairs.

"No fire, no explosives!" Elrond mechanically admonished.

Glorfindel's muffled reply reached his ears, and Elrond hoped it meant that the ancient Elf would stay out of trouble.

Glorfindel rubbed his hands together excitedly and dug out his notes, along with a lantern that he'd tampered with. He'd worked out an alphabet in flashes of light, and he'd been sending little messages to the twins. They were having a great time. Glorfindel headed out into the back garden and waited.

Soon the twins flashed their lantern and the messages were flying back and forth. (To you and I, this messaging would look vaguely like Morse Code.) They messaged the night away, and had such fun making scathing remarks about any and all Elf Lords that they could think of.

Elrond saw mysterious lights in the garden for the fifth night straight. It was beginning to get to him, he didn't know the source of the light, and it flashed in odd patterns. He wondered if Glorfindel had seen them. He found Glorfindel asleep at his desk again. He wondered what the Gilded Elf had been working on. The notes that he'd had all over yesterday had been neatly put away. It looked like the reports were finally finished, which meant more reading for Elrond.

Rinnalaiss swung onto her horse's back and pulled her cloak tighter around her. The cold winds of winter were beginning to come down from the mountains, and the twins were going to have to drop Rinn off sooner than expected. Rinn spurred her horse forward, and the twins followed, with Estel bringing up the rear. They had a three day journey ahead of them. The packs across the horses' flanks were heavy with extra clothing and provisions for the journey. It was cold in the mountains, and Elves weren't foolish. They knew it was important to keep warm even if they personally didn't feel the cold. The horses felt the cold, and they needed to be cared for. Rinn rode a seal brown mare, and the twins were both on iron grey colts. Estel's horse was chestnut with a light colored mane and tail. The procession crossed the ford in single file, the horses sloshing eagerly through the icy-cold waters of the Bruinien. The small party urged their horses to a trot and turned for the pass into Mirkwood.

Glorfindel sighed, watching them leave. He turned to Elrond.

"You know the twins won't be back until spring, don't you?" he said.


	2. Chapter Two

Deep In My Heart

A tale of romance and fretful Elves by Ellie in ElfPajamas.

Rating: PG13. Frightening scenes, some things that may be deemed 'suggestive'.

Chapter two: Snow Angels.

Rinn sniffed. Something reeked, and despite the fact that they had gone many miles, the smell had followed them. She turned to Elladan.

"Did one of you step in horse droppings or something of that nature? What stinks?"

"I don't smell anything." Elladan said, looking confused.

It was Elrohir's feigned innocence and the fact that Estel smelled it too that quickly put the twins in the hot seat.

"Elladan put a stinkbug in your pack." Elrohir admitted.

"But it was Elrohir's idea." Elladan added.

Estel dumped the pack in the thin snow of the pass, quickly covering anything that could get wet without being damaged with snow. He packed the snow tight on it, then dug up the items. They didn't smell as bad, they would be fine to carry until they could be washed at least. The group could see the forest of Mirkwood in the distance, and the dwelling of Beorn a day's journey ahead. It was tantalizing to be so close to their destination, only two days more ahead of them. Rinn was imagining the stable full of horses already, the twins were thinking of their mares, and Estel was dreaming of Rilaisseth's cooking. He liked the matronly older she-Elf and her husband.

Down in the valley, the Anduin babbled on and night began to fall.

* * *

Calad's hair fell around her face in long, soft curls. She had cut it shorter of her own choice, it had been much to long for her to manage it herself. It was only long enough to reach the small of her back now. It was up in a large bun on the back of her head now, and her sleeves were rolled up as she kneaded bread dough with Faelon. Rilaisseth was already multitasking, she didn't need anything else to do, although she felt it scandalous that the Lord and Lady of Southern Mirkwood were in her kitchen making bread. Calad thought it was rather romantic to make bread with her husband. The dough would soon be ready to shape, and Calad wanted to make breadsticks.

Faelon stopped kneading to let the dough rise for the last time, so Calad copied him. Faelon smiled.

"I wish I understood exactly why you wanted Rinn for the whole winter. If you wanted trouble your brother Legolas could just stay for a few weeks." Faelon mused.

"It's different, you big fool. Rinn is a she-Elf. She's trouble because she's the twins' baby sister, that's all." Calad laughed.

"Well, she should be here any day now. I sure hope she's gentle with my she-Elf." Faelon said, wrapping his arms around Calad.

They said sweet things to each other and made Rilaisseth roll her eyes while waiting for the dough to rise.

When the dough had risen, Faelon started to twist it into fantastic shapes, not thinking about it much. The breadsticks were not the simple breadsticks Calad was making, they were braided, twisted shapes, slowly taking the form of her name. She formed Faelon's name in the bread dough as well, teasing him as they put the bread in the oven to bake.

Rilaisseth watched out of the corner of her eye. Calad and Faelon really had a unique relationship. Faelon thought it his mission to shelter and protect Calad, and Calad saw it as her job to make sure Faelon knew he was appreciated. Faelon was a hands on leader, as well. When the hunting parties went out for fresh meat, Faelon was with them. He surveyed the deer herds, making sure that they only took as much as the herds could afford to have culled. He'd also imported beef cattle from Gondor and Rohan along with horses for his breeding program. Beriorchan's household would never lack, that was certain. Faelon was a careful planner. Northern Mirkwood was similarly prepared, he and the royal head cook had seen to that. And Faelon was also a generous soul. Those that came to him empty handed seldom went away in the same state. There were a few Dwarves that he had aided in the past, whom he could call upon if he needed to. It was to his advantage that he looked like a Man to the Men, and like an Elf to the the Elves. Thrice over the summer, wounded and weary groups of Rangers had been sheltered with in the fortress' welcoming walls.

There was a hunt tomorrow, and Faelon would be on it. All the hunters were outfitted with light mithril mail shirts to protect them from stray arrows. Faelon stepped outside to get more wood for Rilaisseth's stove, feeling the sharpness of the air.

The sky was whitening, he knew that meant the clouds were heavy with snow. He looked out over the forest for a moment, hoping that Rinnalaiss and her escort would not be caught in the coming storm. He prayed for them, then shouted to Innas that the animals should be brought in.

When he got back inside, Calad was taking the baked bread from the oven. The warm, delicious scent filled the house, and Faelon returned several loaves to the oven to keep them warm for the Elves working outside. He put a pot of spiced cider on to heat.

* * *

Rinn and the others could smell the baked bread in the wind. They were a half-day's journey from Faelon's home yet, having taken their leave of Beorn this morning. The weather looked more and more threatening by the hour, and they pushed the horses harder, hoping to make it to within sight of the walls before the snow came down in blankets. They made quick progress.

The green stones revealed themselves as the snow began to fall thickly about them. Elladan hailed the watchman, who opened the gates for them. They led the tired horses into the warm stable, bedding them down and taking the packs from their backs. Faelon's dogs, three enormous wolfhounds, pranced and capered around, happy to see the guests. Two huge, shaggy, red and white dogs with droop ears watched calmly. These Faelon had acquired from a northern trader for a mare and some supplies, and they had paid for themselves many times over. They could find people lost in a storm and save their lives.

The group hurried up to the house, where they were joyously received and immediately poured steaming mugs of spiced cider.

* * *

Elrond saw the snow come down and sighed. Glorfindel was right yet again. He returned to the study, where Erestor and Glorfindel were playing chess, and Celeboril was sitting by the fire with a book. Elrond's mind wandered to his younger days, and he picked up a blank book and pen & ink. Soon restive scenes of the other Elves in the room were manifesting themselves on the paper. Elrond relaxed, doing soft scenes of deer in the snow.

The fire roared away on the hearth, and the whole room was bright and warm. Other Elves came to sit by the fire and read, including Melannen, with her needle work. It was such a peaceful, quiet scene. It laid all fears to rest. For all the Elves in the room, it was simply family time.

* * *

Faelon woke with a start and dropped the book in his lap. He'd fallen asleep reading again. He rubbed his eyes and stretched, yawning. His red-and-white dogs were lying by his chair, asleep in the firelight, the puma he and Calad had adopted was curled up on a blanket near the hearth. Faelon got up and put his book away, treading softly. He banked the coals of the fire and headed up the steps to his bedroom. Calad was already asleep, curled up under the thick, warm blanket on their bed, one leaf-shaped ear barely protruding from under the blanket, ringed around by long blond locks. He smiled softly, dressing in his nightclothes, and crawled under the covers and went to sleep.

* * *

Elrond woke with a start to see Melannen in front of him.

"My lord, you would be better off sleeping in your bed. We feared you would fall headlong into the fire if we let you sleep here any longer."

Elrond nodded, yawning and stretching like a large cat. He slowly got out of his chair and headed for bed, his sketchbook neglected on the table beside the chair.

He readied himself for bed, looking out the window. A soft, fluffy white blanket covered Imladris. While he could have had perpetual spring here, he knew spring was not as beautiful without the winter before it. He was thankful for the seasons, and would do nothing to stay their gilded hands. As he sat watching the snow fall, Glorfindel hopped, skipped, and jumped by, his long golden locks peeking from beneath the hood of his heavy blue cloak. Other Elves, all dark haired like most of the Elven population, were out with him, in many colored cloaks. Reds, greens, blues, grays, purples, and other deep and glorious hues made a bright swath of color against the sparkling whiteness of the snow. Erestor and Melannen, both wearing deep red cloaks, were among the other Elves, as a snowball fight began. Snow flew as furious and thick from the ground as it fell thick from the sky. Elrond laughed softly to himself before turning in.

As he crawled beneath the thick blankets, Elrond remembered snowball fights past, and images of cold, red cheeked Elven children playing in the new snowfall flitted through came to mind. Celebrian, with her long golden tresses, showing Elladan and Elrohir how to make snowangels, showing Arwen how to make her first snowball. Erestor, young and insecure, joining in a game of snowball tag, and feeling more accepted. The image of Estel riding piggyback on Elrond's own back, as the small child looked in wonderment at all the snow, flitted through his mind as he fell asleep.

* * *

Erestor sputtered, a rather fluffy snowball had exploded on his face, temporarilly blinding him. Melannen was laughing, watching her husband stumble blindly toward his assailant. Glorfindel had turned his back to Erestor, who jumped on the tall golden Elf and tackled him to the ground. Glorfindel yelped as Erestor rubbed his face in the snow in retribution. Glorfindel and Erestor were soon tussling in the snow as other Elves laughed and cheered them on, occaissionally beaning the golden Elf with a snowball to level the playing field. Celeboril was taking a rather wicked satisfaction in taking cheapshots at the Elf who infuriated most of the Elves of Imladris on a daily basis. It was still all in fun, no one was going to get hurt.

Erestor managed to pin Glorfindel and hold him down, despite the golden Elf's superior strength and size. Erestor giggled, looking down into those wide blue eyes.

"Do you yield?" Erestor asked, pretending to choke Glorfindel.

"Yes, Ressi, I yeild, no scragging, please!" Glorfindel chuckled.

Melannen swept over, laughing.

"This is good, Lord Glorfindel. Now both of you drag your sorry hides out of the snow before you ruin your clothes!" she scolded lightly.

Celeboril laughed, taking up Melannen's argument.

"True, my Lords, you would do well not to destroy your winter cloaks so early in the season. It's only the first snow." he smiled.

Erestor and Glorfindel got up, dusting off the snow and laughing.

Celeboril beaned Glorfindel with a nicely packed snowball.

All hell broke loose.

* * *

Legolas let go in giddy excitement, winging the captain of the guard in the back of the head with a snowball. The silver haired Elf didn't turn to look at his assailant, and merely sighed in resignation. Every winter, every first snow since the prince had learned to walk, he had proceeded to wing members of the guard with the first snowball. Thranduil had been complained to many times, and he had really not done anything about it. It seemed that he was also amused. A second snowball struck the captain of the guard, causing the Elf to turn in surprise, there had never been more than one snowball. King Thranduil himself was standing there, holding his sides, laughing heartilly.

"My Liege, this is intolerable! Your son has already used us for snowball-fight practice, surely you are much too mature for that!?" the Elf exclaimed.

Thranduil cracked up.

"Nay, youngling. One is never too old to take pleasure in the simple things. Besides, young Benn, no harm was done." Thranduil replied, a wicked twinkle in his eyes as he observed the guard's reaction.

Benn really didn't know what to say to that.

Thranduil moved on, winging his youngest son in the back of the head and confounding the dogs.

Legolas and Thranduil went at each other, pelting each other with snowballs, much to the amusement of the guards. The dogs tackled Legolas, trying to get the snowballs. Thranduil scrambled to his son's side, chuckling.

"Legolas, what are you doing down there?" Randir, Legolas' oldest brother, asked, grinning.

"Making snow angels, dear brother." Legolas growled, kicking his brother's legs out from under him. Randir made a face-first snow angel, taking down his father with him by accident. Thranduil lay very still. Legolas crawled over to his father, alarmed. Earenrandir and Celebduril didn't seem so easilly fooled, as they let their baby brother panic.

"Ada? Ada, are you alright?" Legolas cried, reaching for his father.

Thranduil jumped up and grabbed Legolas with an exclaimation of 'Gotcha!'.

Legolas cackled shrilly as his father noogied him really good, squirming. The guards rolled their eyes. Thranduil would never act his age, and Legolas would never grow up. Maybe that was a good thing, because mature Thranduil might have been utterly unbearable.

Legolas was laughing so hard, and Thranduil was chuckling as he laid his head against that of his son, hugging him tightly.

"You're so immature." Thranduil whispered in Legolas' ear.

Legolas burst into a fresh fit of laughter.

"I'M immature??? You're the one everyone thinks has reverted to being an Elfling!" Legolas said.

"No reversion neccesary in your case, Legolas." Earenrandir joked. "You _are_ an Elfling!"

Legolas shot Earenrandir such a look, and Celebduril winged his older brother with a snowball, starting the fight over again.

* * *

Faelon threw the fat white deer over Shadow's withers, watching as several of his companions did the same with their kills and their horses. The hunt had been a successful one, and it was nice to be headed back. Elladan and Elrohir were teasing Estel to distraction about the deer he'd managed to shoot between the eyes and still felt the need to shoot in the ribs as well. It was a perfect, clean kill with the headshot, they maintained, while Estel insisted that it'd still been alive.

Innas was shaking his auburn head, rolling his eyes at the ridiculous arguement. Innas typically didn't interfere in disputes between younger Elves, he'd stay out of this one as well. Faelon clapped his hands to get their attention.

"My lords, you may stay here and continue your arguement, but we're heading home and we're taking the deer with us so we can clean them before they freeze solid." Faelon said, swinging onto Shadow's back.

Other Elves agreed with their young Lord, eager to get home to their families and the hot spiced cider Calad would undoubtably have ready. Elladan and Elrohir agreed as well, while Estel said nothing and eagerly clambered onto his horse.

"Good, I'm cold." Estel said.

This was recieved with snickering from the Elves. They didn't get cold.

"I'm with you on that, Estel, being able to see my breath in the air makes me feel cold." Faelon said wryly. "It means that if my hair gets wet it could very well break like an icicle. Having had that not so enjoyable experience before, I don't like icy weather."

"If you're worried about that, why do you have long hair?" questioned Elladan.

Faelon grinned impishly.

"To keep my ears warm."


	3. Chapter Three

Deep In My Heart

A tale of romance and fretful Elves by Ellie in ElfPajamas.

Rating: PG13. Frightening scenes, some things that may be deemed 'suggestive'.

BREAKING NEWS: _The Misadventures Of Caladriel And Rinnalaiss_ will be getting a bit of a rewrite in the near future, as will_ Gilded Rose Of The House Of Gondolin_. Legolas gets a bit more of a family. I don't think he's an only child anyway, probably not even the oldest child. And if you thought that Legolas was cool, you'll love his oldest brother. His brothers will be showing up in here, as well. Randir, eldest and crown prince, Earenrandir, second oldest and next in line to the throne, and Celebduril, third eldest and closest in age to Legolas, only a year older than his baby brother. And Telponnasseo, an Elf from a story I'm currently working on, makes a guest appearance.

Chapter three: Great Expectations.

Faelon yawned, looking over at peacefully sleeping Calad. Her belly bulged, she looked like she'd swallowed a watermelon. He smiled wryly at this thought. It was time for him to get up, and he was certainly not going to wake her. She looked so beautiful that way, her hair soft and feathery, her body completely relaxed, the satin blanket softly outlining her form in its folds. He loved her just as much as he had the day he'd married her, if not moreso. He kissed her forehead softly as he carefully got out of bed, trying not to disturb her.

As he hopped around on one foot, pulling on his leggings, he thought of the fact that there would soon be an Elfling in his house. Much as he was daunted by that, he couldn't wait to see the little one for the first time. There was just something about that idea, about seeing your first child for the first time. He wondered often if it would be male or female, who it would take more after. What would they name it?

He pulled on his tunic and then his boots, then quietly headed downstairs.

Faelon smiled as Rilaisseth came running after him with a wooden spoon in hand.

"Faelon Beriorgan! What are you doing up this early?" she demanded.

"Perchance, as I am lord of this manor, I deemed it time to wake?" Faelon said defensively.

"You should still be abed! You'll ruin everything!"

"Peace, Rilaisseth, if you want me to go back to bed, I will, but I have some papers to read and reports to finish, I need to get to work. So I'll just go into the study and.."

"Don't you dare! Back to bed with you!" she hissed, chasing him back up the stairs, striking him squarely on the rear with the wooden spoon once or twice to prove her point.

_This is ridiculous,_ thought Faelon, _here I am, Lord of Southern Mirkwood, and my household is really run by a portly old cook who paddles Elf Lords! What a concept! I really need to start asserting myself more..._

He stopped at the top of the steps and turned to Rilaisseth.

"Stop this now. If you wake up Calad I will not be responsible for my actions. Go downstairs and leave me be. I need to finish that paper work to send it to King Thranduil by falcon, and the deadline is almost past." Faelon said. "Unless you have a really good reason for not wanting me downstairs, please get out of the way."

"It's February 21, that's why. You're one year older. It's your first begetting day since becoming Lord of this manor." Rilaisseth said. "We have a surprise downstairs, and you aren't supposed to be up yet!"

Faelon walked meekly back to his bedroom and sat there twiddling his thumbs.

* * *

Melannen had always loved chocolate, it was just a fact of life. The fact that she was eating a little more of it these days was really no surprise. Although that, combined with the fact that Melannen was looking a bit round, was starting to make Elrond wonder. The beautiful chocolate cake she was busilly preparing was cause for excitement though, because Elrond did like chocolate cake, very much. The thick, rich buttercream frosting that she was carefully layering on was making him salivate.

For a brief moment, Elrond saw two children hanging onto Melannen's skirts, a fair haired little boy and a dark haired little girl, both with blue-gray eyes. They turned to look at him and he blinked, then they were gone. He looked at the cake again, and when he looked back, they were there again. They were toddlers, adorable as the day is long, and obviously Erestor and Melannen's children. He crouched down and opened his arms to them, and they left their mother's skirts to see him.

"My Lord?" Melannen was looking at Elrond quizzically and the Elflings had vanished.

Elrond reddened in embarassment, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Umm, did you just see two small children in here? A boy and a girl?"

"No...."

"Are you sure? They were there, I talked to them!"

"My lord, are you quite alright?"

"They were twin Elflings! They looked like they could belong to you and Erestor! I swear they were there, I talked to them, they answered!"

"But, I'm not expecting twins."

"Maybe you should."

Elrond summarilly retreated, fearing the wrath of the Elven wife.

* * *

Calad rolled over, her third eyelid flicking back as she stretched her arms. Her shoulder hit something warm and solid, and she looked up at her rather abashed husband in sleepy surprise. He was just sitting there, fully dressed, apparantly ready for the day. He grinned sheepishly. Calad gauged the amount of light coming in through the windows and realized how late in the morning it was.

"Faelon, what are you still doing here? You should have started on your reports hours ago!" Calad exclaimed.

"Rilaisseth has banished me to my room." Faelon said, an eyebrow raised in disbelief.

Calad giggled, burying her face in a pillow.

"Well don't look at me, Lord of Southern Mirkwood, I had nothing to do with it." Calad chuckled.

"Apparantly it somehow leaked to Rilaisseth that today is my begetting day, and she won't let me downstairs because they have a surprise down there. It doesn't matter that I have important paperwork to send to King Thranduil, not at all. It doesn't matter that I HAVE A DEADLINE I HAVE TO MEET!, as long as Rilaisseth gets to have her little surprise go over without mishap!"

"Faelon, you're going to make me laugh."

"FAELON, CALAD!" Rilaisseth called from the bottom of the stairs.

Calad giggled.

"I'm not even dressed. You can tell her to hold her six white horses."

"HOLD YOUR SIX WHITE HORSES, RILAISSETH!" Faelon yelled, dreadfully pleased with himself for having defied the cook.

Calad dressed quickly, pulling on a green dress.

* * *

Thranduil tapped his foot impatiently. He'd been amused by his son-in-law's outburst, long years with Rilaisseth made his appreciation of the put-down quite keen.

Legolas giggled, looking at the cake, covered with sugar frosting. Thranduil was rather dreading the idea of his youngest son on a sugar rush. He looked in grim resignation at the younger Elf. Faelon appeared at the top of the steps, his wife holding onto his arm as they made their way down the stairs. They entered the dining room, and Faelon suddenly looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole and die. King Thranduil's presence was too much. Crown Prince Randir, Prince Earenrandir, and Prince Celebduril all smiled brightly.

They all toasted Faelon's health, and Faelon looked in dread at the wine flagon, for the hangover cometh.

* * *

Glorfindel loved buttercream frosting. It was so creamy. 'Of course, that's why they call it "buttercream", I'm surprised your name doesn't mean _Golden Lackwit._' Celeboril had said that more than once. Melannen was seated beside Erestor as usual, looking a bit tired. Elrond was giddy in delight, it'd been a while since anyone had made something like this, perhaps not even since his wife had gone to the Havens.

Erestor looked at Glorfindel with an eyebrow raised. It wasn't often that Glorfindel went into 'dumb blond' mode like this. Glorfindel was rather distractedly carving a topographical map of Arda in the frosting, grinning as he thought of the places he'd been. Melannen looked at Glorfindel too, when Erestor nudged her gently. She snickered, looking down on the table for something to add for trees. She found a sprig of parsley, and quickly stuck it in the area of Mirkwood. Glorfindel groaned.

"Yuck! I hate parsley..." he muttered, picking it off.

He realized everyone was now staring at him with bemused grins. Lindir was snickering, Celeboril was trying his best not to laugh, a few of the guard and some scribes that worked as Erestor's underlings were looking on in benign fascination. Glorfindel reddened in embarassment.

"Well.... It is a fairly good map." Lindir said, looking at it. "But that mountain is lopsided."

"True." chuckled Elrandír, the cartographer. "The elevations are also a bit off. This pass should be higher."

"Golden Lackwit." Celeboril muttered, rolling his eyes.

Glorfindel looked like a meek, unjustly persecuted Elf. Elrond laughed out loud, which unfortunately made milk come out his nose since he was drinking a glass of it at the time. This turned everyone's attention to their lord, and several were wondering if it was permissable to laugh at an Elf Lord when he laughed and milk came out his nose. Erestor started laughing outright. It was truly comical to see the great Lord Elrond with milk coming out of his nose. Maybe a once in a lifetime sight, even. Melannen laughingly handed Elrond a napkin.

* * *

Faelon was standing on the hilltop overlooking his home, a calfskin in hand, as he told Legolas how this 'sledding' thing was done. Then, with that, Faelon got a running start, and then slid down the hill on the calfskin. Legolas was astonished, Tholvell whooped in excited anticipation, and Ochadrion sighed, knowing he would most likely hit a tree on his own way down. Legolas' big brother grinned wickedly, picking up a calfskin.

"Now this I haven't tried before." Randir laughed, then proceeded to copy Faelon.

Randir laughed as snow kicked up in his face, sticking in his red-gold hair. He wasn't laughing when he was abruptly stopped by a snowdrift. Faelon laughed, pulling the crown prince out of the bank by his ankles. Randir sputtered, shaking his head to get the snow out of his hair. Faelon chuckled, looking up at the taller Elf.

"You should have bailed, Randir."

Randir laughed, lightly punching Faelon's shoulder.

"You're right." Randir looked up the hill and called to his brothers. "Come on, you chickens! It's your turn Earenrandir, make sure you look out for the snowdrift!"

Earenrandir and Celebduril made similar mistakes, Earenrandir hit an embankment and tumbled into the snow, Celebduril came down too soon and ran over his older brother as Earenrandir hopped back onto the trail. Legolas, thinking to show up his older brothers, managed to overshoot the calfskin and instead came tumbling down the hill. Faelon was having a great time watching the brothers make fools of themselves. Elladan, Elrohir, and Estel were very proficient sledders themselves, and showed up the Mirkwood Elves quite a bit.

* * *

There was a gentle knock at the door of The Last Homely house, and Elrond went to answer it, curious to see who had come to their door. An Elf about Glorfindel's height loomed on the doorstep, his long silver hair nearly matching the snow that clung to it and lay on his cloak. He smiled down at Elrond.

"_Mae Govannen_, son of Earendil. It has been a long time since I last saw you." the Elf said, a good natured twinkle in his eyes.

Elrond was awed, but stepped aside, inviting the tall Elf inside. The Elf took off his cloak, dusting the snow from the brooch that held it. It was a rayed sun, the symbol of Glorfindel's household!

"Who are you?!" Elrond asked suddenly. "Why do you wear the emblem of the house of the Golden Flower?"

"I? I am Telponnasseo, brother of Glorfindel, and I belong to the house of the Golden Flower. Surely your father taught you that it is rude to question one's family crest. How are you, young Lord Elrond?" Telponnasseo asked, with easy familiarty.

Elrond almost snorted in disgust at being called young. But there was something about the Elf that spoke of great age. He didn't know what exactly, but there was something there.

Glorfindel came into the entry hall, having heard voices, but being unable to identify or make them out. Elrond and Telponnasseo turned at the sound of Glorfindel's steady, measured tread. Glorfindel's stern countenance broke into a smile, and he threw his arms around Telponnasseo.

"So, Nasse, you have at last come to visit us for a change." Glorfindel said, smiling. "This is a new development, little brother."

"So it is, Glor. I have brought Elrond a gift, though at the moment I wonder whether he will welcome it or no."

"If it's shiny, non-breakable, and Celeboril doesn't have to clean up after it, Elrond will love it. Right, Lord Elrond?"

"I suppose."

"Well, they are shiny, they don't come in the house, and they don't break easilly. Will that be satisfactory?"

Now Elrond's curiousity was piqued.

"What are they, then, Telponnasseo?"

"Put on your cloak and I will show you."

Glorfindel too put on his cloak, and the three Elves stepped outside.

Seven magnificent horses stood in the courtyard, three were stallions of finest breeding and training, the others were mares of unsurpassed beauty.

"Eleven horses, Elrond."

"I count seven..." Elrond said in confusion.

Telponnasseo grinned impishly, and it was easy to see whose brother he was in that moment.

"I count eleven. Maybe more. The mares are in foal."

"Ahhh, a puzzle. I see now." Elrond smiled. "Thank you, Telponnasseo. They are splendid additions to my stable. I'll be honored to ride them."

Telponnasseo looked gratified and a little embarassed.

Elrond proceeded to coax the silver Elf into the halls of fire to tell a tale, much to Glorfindel's amusement. Lindir was tripping over himself, he was so excited to meet another Gondolin Elf. Seated side by side, the resemblance between Glorfindel and Telponnasseo was to much to miss. Erestor smiled at Telponnasseo, looking up from the book he was writing for a moment. A look of understanding passed between them, and Telponnasseo nodded to Erestor. Erestor and Telponnasseo had met only once before, and the meeting had added much to Imladris' history books. Much about Elrond's family, even.

Melannen was dozing, her head resting in Erestor's lap. Erestor's right hand rested on her head as he stroked her hair. The warm laziness of the fire had a lot of the Elves drowsy, and Lindir asked Telponnasseo for a song from Gondolin. Telponnasseo would only sing with Glorfindel's accompaniment, and their lighthearted, brotherly banter was amusing as they disagreed over what to sing.

He was a king, a teacher

The wisest in the land

Driven by a passion

Just to know and understand

He opened wide his eyes

Sought to see beyond the lies

And found a world beyond his understanding

Under the sun

He saw the vanity of vanities

He bravely looked at life

And saw futility

Torn between the facts he saw

And all he ever had believed

Between his hopes and what he'd

clearly seen

He hoped it might be wisdom

So he set himself to learn

But found the more the knowledge

The more sorrow and concern

And so he turned to pleasure

To folly and to cheer

But still his laughter tasted of his tears

Under the sun

It was all vanity of vanities

In wisdom or in wine

He found futility

In knowledge or in folly

For the wise man or the fool

Hopelessness will always be the rule

And yet there is a time

For everything that's under heaven

A time to run, a time to stand and fight

So in the face of cold despair

No matter what seems right

Remember, darkness drives us to the light

Under the sun

True there is vanity of vanities

But there is more to life

There is security

Remember your Creator

In the days when you are young

And He will be your hope

Under the sun.

_(Michael Card/Phil Naish 1990 Birdwing Music and BMG Songs)_

Telponnasseo's voice was as silver as his brother's was golden. They were not silver and gold for no reason. It came to Elrond's mind how aptly they had been named, these brothers of the Golden Flower. In his heart he hoped Telponnasseo would stay for the winter. There would be no lack for entertainment.


	4. Chapter Four

Deep In My Heart

A tale of romance and fretful Elves by Ellie in ElfPajamas. Angstier touches provided by: Rinnalaiss Turegwaithen.

Rating: PG13. Frightening scenes, some things that may be deemed 'suggestive'.

Okay, so I'm not a very brave angst writer. Rinnalaiss is. She'll write what she wants no matter how painful it is(to read!). Seeing as how we live on the same block, it was easy to just drag her over to my house when I needed help. So, if you think the angst is uncharacteristic of me, you're right! Please be kind, though, as I wrote the outline and let her flesh it out. (ducks for cover from Erestor's snowballs) Reviews are much appreciated, Thank you to each of the wonderful people who has reviewed my stories in the past. Best wishes in 2005! Thank you also to the flamers, much as I hate what you do like poison, at least we get to roast some marshmallows out of the deal.

BREAKING NEWS: Anonymous reviews are back on, and I'll appreciate there being no nonsense now. People who flame on the anonymous reviews and use dirty words are cowards. If you have nothing better to do with your life, and you can't take a joke, I can't be expected to waste my time on you. You know who you are. You hide behind a fake name, behind the guise of anonymous reviews, and make life more difficult for everyone else.

I don't want to turn off the anonymous reviews again, but I may be forced to if I have to clean them up each week. Between work and school, I have no time to waste on cowards. You wanna flame me and cuss me out, register with the site and fight like a man. You know I'll catch you eventually. If you don't like what you read, read between the lines. Sometimes I write satire, sarcasm. My pen often drips with sarcasm, as it does with Caladiel's Guide to Writing Believable Mary-Sues. It was a joke, rather than stoop so low as to go around and flame all the Mary-Sues I can find, as some people do, I pointed out that; hey, if you have to write it, at least make it good reading.

Again, thanks to everyone for the reviews.

Chapter four: In Which Elrond Loses His Mind.

Elrond was pretty sure now that Melannen was with child. It wasn't his healer's training that told him this, though, it was the spirit-children who followed him everywhere. No one believed him when he told them what he saw, and people were beginning to believe that good Lord Elrond had gone mad. The ancient depths of Telponnasseo's eyes showed that he, in fact, had no trouble believing Elrond's story. He knew Elrond better than most, perhaps better than Elrond knew himself. Telponnasseo had lived a long time under the sun. Much of that had been spent in service to Elrond's grandfather, then his father. Yet Telponnasseo had not grown 'old' even by Elven standards. He failed to act his age much of the time, actually. Galadriel was ancient, and she acted like it, Telponnasseo was also very old, and yet was as young as Elladan and Elrohir on the inside.

The silver Elf had made life in Imladris rather lively in the past week or so. Lindir had found himself a rival in the spinning of tales, and Erestor had written down Telponnasseo's first hand accounts of certain places and events. Glorfindel had seemed to grow young again in the presence of his younger brother. Other Elves had been entertained by some of the silver Elf's words and deeds. Melannen had seemed bolstered by the lighthearted intruder. Watching the effect it had on Erestor, the way it picked him up, had an uplifting effect on her. The Valar had not seen fit to take the twins and their antics away for the winter without inserting someone equally entertaining.

Right now, for the first time in at least a half-century, Elrond found himself outside in a snowball fight, commanding his 'troops' against the onslaught of Glorfindel's forces. Elrond was crouched behind a wall of snow in his strictly utilitarian snow fortress. Alright, so maybe the hiding spot for Celeboril was not strictly utilitarian, and maybe the carefully sculpted doorways were just a little decorative.

Elrond signalled his detatchment to grab their snowballs and stand at the ready. With a wild yell of rebellion Elrond leapt over the snow wall and ran toward Glorfindel's fortress, followed by his detatchment of laughing Elves. Other Elves could take down their targets as they chose, but Elrond had eyes only for Glorfindel's tawny mane. Erestor fell to Lindir's friendly fire, Lindir fell by Telponnasseo's retribution for a cheap hit to the back of the head, but Elrond didn't see them, all he saw was Glorfindel as he jumped into the fortress and pelted the 'enemy commander' with snowballs. Glorfindel's eyes were as big as saucers as Elrond jumped into the fort and hit him for the first time. Glorfindel, the brilliant tactician, had just been shelled.

Erestor stumbled over to the fortress and took the flag from a stunned Elrandír, knocking his opponent into a snowbank. He took the flag down and ran over to Elrond's fort, whooping like an Elfling. Melannen laughed, watching from the kitchen window. The Elves had taken a break from work, although that break had quickly progressed to an all out mock war in the courtyard. Elves had even fallen 'dead'. Three hits from a snowball and you were 'dead'. Melannen stirred the hot cider, checking the bread to see if it was done. In a few minutes she would call them in for lunch, and Celeboril would demand that their wet boots and cloaks be left at the door. Melannen took the bread from the oven, and the soup from the stove, pouring the hot cider into a pitcher.

"Lunch!" she called.

The male Elves cheered, turning toward the house in a group, their feet drowning out Celeboril's orders to leave their wet outerwear at the door as the snow crunched under their feet. Melannen shook her head as Elrond grabbed the pot of soup from her hands, kissing the top of her head, and tromping into the dining room in his wet boots. Glorfindel followed Elrond, also kissing her on top of the head and taking the pitcher from her hands, likewise in wet boots and cloak. Telponnasseo copied his brother and Lord Elrond, and Melannen, making the best of it, handed him the silverware to take to the table. Other Elves followed suit, and the table was soon set. Erestor brought up the rear, no boots on, his wet cloak hung up. Melannen dropped the napkins and kissed him.

"There is a merciful God in Valinor! At last! An Elf I will not have to mop up after!" she exclaimed.

All the Elves waiting decorously at the table looked dreadfully embarassed. Elrond looked down at his boots and winced, thinking of Celeboril's inevitable reaction.

* * *

Lindir sighed. He couldn't believe this. He looked over at Elrond, who looked similarly dismayed. Five of them, Elrond, Elrandír, Telponnasseo, Lossëhelin, and himself, were conscripted to laundry duty. Glorfindel had it worse, he and three others had to clean the diningroom. Celeboril's wrath had fallen swift and sure, putting them all to work cleaning up the mess they'd made. Telponnasseo didn't seem bothered.

"Look at the bright side, we're not trying to wash blood out of the clothes, we aren't even trying to get out grass stains. We're lucky Elves." he laughed.

His words would turn out to be prophetic.

* * *

Faelon was drowsy and content. The large family room was full of Elves, much akin to Elrond's Hall of Fire. Minstrels played, Elves swapped fish tales, Legolas and his brother Celebduril played a dice game in the corner. Calad was asleep on Faelon's lap. Faelon listened to the bard with half an ear, stroking Calad's head. Earenrandir was flirting with Enetheru's daughter, and she was leading him on, entertained by the young royal upstart. Randir was discussing the attributes of a horse with his father, and Thranduil was tracing the horse's liniage in the studbook in his lap. Legolas was now losing in the dice game. Innas was trying to coach him in how to play. Tholvell was playing his flute softly in the corner.

Elladan and Elrohir were mending their saddle bags, Estel and Rinnalaiss were drawing cartoons together. The atmosphere was lazy and contented, especially when Rilaisseth came in and offered punch to everyone. Faelon requested spiced cider instead, not really interested in risking a hangover. Calad shifted a little, resting her head a little more comfortably against his chest. He hummed softly to himself, closing his eyes for a moment to soak in the sounds of the things going on in the room. The cedar logs on the hearth smelled wonderful, he could smell the cherries that were in the punch the other Elves had, the fire crackled in the hearth, the rugs were thick and soft, warm against the cold stone floors. Rilaisseth nudged him and he smiled, opening his eyes and looking up.

"Going to fall asleep there, master Faelon?" she asked.

"No, Rilaisseth. I was just thinking. Don't worry about me." Faelon laughed softly. "If I do fall asleep, just keep the fire going. I'm feeling to lazy to get up right now."

Rilaisseth nodded, bowing and walking away.

"Oh, and Rilaisseth, no more of that ridiculous bowing to me, please? Save it for King Thranduil." Faelon murmured, knowing Rilaisseth heard him.

Estel came over and flopped into the cushions that littered the floor. He picked up Legolas' glass of punch, and with the ease that friends and brothers so often exhibit, drank it. Faelon chuckled.

"He's going to shoot you for that. He doesn't take kindly to having Rangers drink his punch. Right Legolas?"

"Right, whatever you said." Legolas said, frowning at the dice on the floor. He hadn't heard anything other than his name.

Legolas picked up his glass and looked utterly confounded as to what had happened to the punch in it. Earenrandir poured his brother another glass, chuckling. Estel laughed softly, picking up some of the sweet black cherries that were in the bowl on the table. He popped them into his mouth in obvious delight.

"Hey." Faelon nudged Estel. "Share with me, Ranger of the North?"

"Sure, Half-Elf of the South of Mirkwood." Estel said, placing the bowl between them.

Faelon flicked a cherry pit at Estel's ear for that remark. Estel laughed, brushing at his ear.

"That tickles, you know that?" Estel said. "I should just dump these cherries on your thick head, Faelon."

"Don't wake Calad, or you won't live long enough to be King in Gondor." Faelon threatened jokingly.

"Yes, Ada always said it was dangerous to wake a pregnant woman, and Eru knows we learned that the hard way before Arwen was born." Elrohir said.

Elladan snickered.

"Aye. Nana wanted to kill us, we made too much noise and raised such a ruckus."

Faelon smiled, settling down to listen to the lighthearted banter.

* * *

Something moved. The Orcs scented the Elves in the forest, and now they could see them moving in the powdery whiteness. Their white cloaks concealed them well, but not completely. The Orcs aimed for the distantly moving white shapes, Their great hatred for the Elves making them good marksmen in this instance.

Telponnasseo grunted, grimacing in pain. Erestor lined up an Orc in his sight and shot him. Erestor may have been uncertain about whether or not deer were dead on the first shot, but not Orcs. Orcs were harder to miss. Erestor was also a fine marksman, especially when his life depended on it. Erestor made a good target himself, his ebony hair showing up well against the snow. Telponnasseo groaned, picking up his own bow and drawing an arrow. Orcs fell quickly to Telponnasseo and Erestor's arrows, while Glorfindel chased the others of the hunting party back toward Imladris.

Soon the dark creatures stirred no more, and Telponnasseo dropped his bow, falling to his knees.

Glorfindel turned in alarm, finally noticing the arrow in his little brother's back. Telponnasseo coughed blood into the snow, freezing Glorfindel in place. Glorfindel had seen many people injured in combat, seen death and destruction, but he'd never seen 'little Nasse' injured. Erestor was already at the Gondolin Elf's side, looking at the arrow wound.

"Glorfindel, help me here." Erestor said, looking up at the golden Elf.

Glorfindel woodenly moved to obey, kneeling to help Erestor.

"Tep, it isn't going to kill you, but we're going to have to push the head through to get the shaft out." Erestor said quietly.

"I know Erestor. I'm a healer, I know that all too well." Telponnasseo agreed softly. "Just, just don't trust me to stay still."

Erestor nodded.

"Do you want to hold him or should I, Glorfindel?" Erestor asked.

What a hangman's choice. Hold your brother while someone causes him more pain or cause him pain yourself? Glorfindel blinked and swallowed hard.

"I-I'll hold him, Erestor."

Glorfindel's hands grasped his brother's shoulders tightly, Telponnasseo couldn't even squirm against the iron grip. Glorfindel closed his eyes, steeling himself. Erestor managed to keep himself detatched from the situation, and pushed the arrowhead through to cut it off, despite Telponnasseo's soft cries of pain. Erestor removed the head of the arrow, then paused.

"Alright, I'm going to take it out. Glorfindel, you need to be ready to press a bandage against Tep's chest." Erestor said gently, handing the bandage to the golden Elf. Erestor took a deep breath, gripping the arrow shaft.

Telponnasseo gasped in pain, clenching his teeth, as Erestor pulled the arrow from his body. On both sides, wads of bandage were pressed against him, keeping the bleeding to a minimum. At least the superficial bleeding, anyway.

"We have to go back now." Telponnasseo said, amazing even himself as he kept his voice even.

Erestor secured the bandages in place and helped Telponnasseo up, letting the silver Elf lean on him.

* * *

Elrond's heart sank. The hunters had come back in a panic, and now Glorfindel and Erestor were coming in the gate. Telponnasseo lay in Glorfindel's arms, his long silver hair brushing the snow. Blood dribbled from the corner of Telponnasseo's mouth, but the Elf's eyes were open and he seemed to be at least semi-alert.

"What happened?" Elrond exclaimed.

Telponnasseo smiled thinly.

"Got dizzy, lightheaded. S' good to have a big brother t' cart me around." Telponnasseo whispered, his speech slightly slurred.

Erestor hurriedly explained Telponnasseo's condition to Elrond.

"So what you're telling me is that you kept him from bleeding all over the place and now he's just bleeding in his lungs." Elrond sighed. "So he won't bleed to death, he'll just drown in his own blood. Lovely."

Elrond looked really exasperated.

Telponnasseo's grip on conscious, lucid thought was slipping as they deposited him on a bed in the infirmary.

"E-Elrond, you really look like your father." Telponnasseo murmured, out of the blue. "That's not good. Smile. He was a real grouch."

Elrond seemed slightly amused at this thought as he uncorked a bottle and laid a rag against the top, turning the bottle over to get some of the contents on the cloth.

"Alright, Nasse, you're going to take a little nap for a while." Elrond said, stepping closer to Telponnasseo's face. "Trust me, things will be so much better when you wake up."

"I know." Telponnasseo sighed. "Now if only others believed _me_ when _I _told _them_ that."

Elrond pressed the cloth to Telponnasseo's nose and mouth, holding it there until the silver Elf lay as limp as a rag doll, his muscles all slack. Elrond knew he was in deep, perhaps deeper than Elrond should have put him, but he didn't want Telponnasseo to suffer if something went drastically wrong and he wasn't going to live. Telponnasseo's heartbeat had slowed a bit, and his breathing was a little suppressed, only because he was deeply unconscious. Erestor stood ready, knowing he was going to be handed the rag and bottle. Sure enough, he was.

"If he starts showing signs of consciousness, dampen the rag again and hold it to his face until his eyes glaze over like that again." Elrond said.

"I don't envy you for the headache you're going to have, Tep." Erestor said softly.

Elrond set to work, trying to stop the bleeding in Telponnasseo's chest.

* * *

Telponnasseo shifted slightly, barely aware of the fact that the blanket was tucked down tightly to keep him from moving much. His head was pounding, and he was restless. He wasn't quite conscious yet, but almost. Melannen took Telponnasseo's hand in her own, waiting for Erestor to come back. He'd gone to tell Elrond that Telponnasseo was waking up. Telponnasseo stilled, Melannen's touch soothing him. The warmth of her presence washed over him, so much like that of his mother so many years ago. Erestor returned, Elrond hot on his heels. Telponnasseo's eyes flickered open for a moment. He was trying to grasp consciousness, trying hard, but it seemed to be just out of reach. Elrond had been worried about that, Nasse had lost a lot of blood. He had to be kept warm by outside means for now, and Elrond couldn't see him being able to get up for a while, a week at least, because the bloodloss would leave him weak and dizzy.

Elrond rested his hand on Telponnasseo's forehead, feeling for a fever.

"Hello, Nasse, glad to have you back with us again." Elrond said softly. "How do you feel?"

"I-I'm c-cold." Telponnasseo stammered, his voice a mere whisper.

Erestor grabbed another blanket and laid it on top, tucking it tightly around Telponnasseo's shoulders. Telponnasseo drifted back to sleep.

Melannen smiled softly.

"I'm just so glad that's not you." she whispered, wrapping her arms around Erestor and resting her head on his shoulder. Erestor smiled slowly, kissing his wife's head.

"So am I. I could not leave my Melannen to shift for herself, especially now." he sighed, resting his cheek against her head. "I love you so much."

Melannen smiled, hugging him a little tighter.

"Come on, night Elf. Let's go get dinner." she said.

Elrond watched with a sad smile, remembering Celebrian and how much he had loved her.


	5. Chapter Five

Deep In My Heart

A tale of romance and fretful Elves by Ellie in ElfPajamas.

Rating: PG13. Frightening scenes, some things that may be deemed 'suggestive'.

Chapter five: Big Things Come In Small Packages.

Telponnasseo couldn't possibly have looked any more dead to the world than he did right now. Midwinter's Eve had brought all the Elves together for a feast in the halls of fire. It had been about a week and a half since he'd been wounded, and he still wasn't quite back to normal, Elves didn't heal instantly. The silver Elf was near the fire, curled up against Melannen's wolfhound, sound asleep. Glossion's head rested on Telponnasseo's hip, the dog seemed quite content to babysit an Elf. One of Elrond's herding dogs ambled over and nudged its way under Telponnasseo's arm, licking his chin. There was still laughter and games, eating, singing, and the like, just Telponnasseo didn't seem to care, curled on the cushions like that. Erestor slipped by, stuffing a pillow under Telponnasseo's head and throwing a blanket over the tall Elf.

Lindir was listening to Elrond tell the story of how Rinn had become part of the family.

"Celebrian walked in the door with this tiny mudmonster in her arms. I'd just finished scolding the twins for bringing all the strays they could possibly find home. I turned around, and Celebrian is holding this muddy thing out to me. "Aiya! An Orcling!" Glorfindel screamed, grabbing his hunting knife. Celebrian laughed at him and said; "No, silly Elf, it's an Elfling. Albeit one with an orc-like fondness for dirt, but an Elfling just the same." Elladan and Elrohir were clammoring to see it, but Celebrian insisted that it be washed up first. She was such a chubby little baby! She seemed just old enough to be learning to walk."

"I did NOT say 'Aiya, an Orcling', Elrond." Glorfindel protested. "I didn't have anything to do with her."

"So she learned to walk, hanging onto Glorfindel's robes. She called him Gorfy, and she followed him everywhere. It wasn't even until Celebrian sailed that she called me Ada, it was always Gorfy this and Gorfy that. Gorfy took me on a horsie ride, Gorfy hit Elladan with a snowball and it was funny, Gorfy stole 'Stor's diary... You name it. She's always been the little tattle tale, hasn't she, Gorfy?"

"Elrond, you know I detest being called Gorfy."

"So she's not really yours, Elrond?" Melannen mused.

"Well, now she is." Elrond laughed. "Elladan and Elrohir insist so."

One of the rangers who had the good fortune to be under Elrond's care at this time laughed softly, drawing Elrond's attention.

"Look, my lord. Seems that some of your kind weary of tales." the ranger said, a twinkle in his eye. He motioned in Telponnasseo's direction.

Elrond laughed quietly.

"Honestly, Glorfindel, your brother is like a cat, he can sleep anywhere and anytime." Elrond got up and headed in that direction.

He ran his fingers through Telponnasseo's hair, trying to coax the Elf to a semi-waking state. Maybe the day had just been to much for the Elf. Telponnasseo looked at him foggily, awakened from pleasant dreams. Elrond relaxed, letting out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Elrond smiled and let Telponnasseo go back to sleep. The long silver strands of Telponnasseo's hair shimmered in the firelight, the Elf was warm and comfortable, Elrond had no intention of sending him to bed if it meant waking him up all the way.

* * *

Legolas slunk down the hallway. He'd get even with Celebduril. A bucket of icewater was in the young princeling's hand, as he slowly turned the doorknob. Celebduril was sound asleep in the glow of the moonlight through his window. He'd drunk a lot more than his baby brother, and nothing short of a Mumakil charge would have wakened him. Legolas slowly approached Celebduril's head, then, with great anticipation, he tipped the bucket.

The sputter and shreik of surprise that came out of Celebduril's mouth was endlessly gratifying to Legolas.

"That'll teach you not to cheat your own brother at a game of dice!" Legolas cried in triumph.

"Ideally, my Lords, you shouldn't cheat at dice at all. But if you must, do keep it outside family ties." Randir said, standing in the doorway with an eyebrow raised. "Familial retribution is generally frowned upon."

* * *

The huge black dog was stalking Erestor for the fun of it. It was well fed, certainly not starving, it was just hunting the Elf for kicks. It had no intent to do him any harm, just shake him up a bit. The dog had large paws with webbing between her toes, her thick, full coat was glossy and warm. Her breed had been accustomed to these conditions long before Elf or man had decided to venture north. Her breed had been there when they arrived. Her breed could contend with the Wolves, in sheer size and power, her breed was more than a match. And her breed could swim. Wolves were not good swimmers.

The dog's heavy, mastiff-like lips parted in a canine grin, as it pounced on the Elf below. With a playful bark, her 200 pounds hit the Elf and threw him to the ground. After being downed four or five times, Erestor realized this animal was playing with him, and wasn't in earnest at all. She wasn't even snapping at him, her belly was full, he was just a toy. But the sheer power of the massive black dog was enough to keep him hitting the ground and keep him from calling for help. She had a white star on her chest, right in the center, like a searchlight. Erestor finally stopped trying to get up, and just played dead. The dog gently nosed his cheek, licking him. The game had ended much too early for her. He continued to fake death, so she grasped the collar of his robes in her massive maw and began to drag him toward the house.

Now Erestor was choking. It was also terribly odd to be dragged through the snow by a dog. She knew where he belonged though, and dragged him straight to the doorstep, depositing him in the snow to scratch at the door and bark. The bark, what a deep, gutterral bark. Erestor was nearly deafened by it, as he tried to breathe normally again. He pulled his collar away from his throat and looked balefully up at the dog.

She licked his face happily. Telponnasseo came to the door. The silver Elf could not contain his laughter at the sight of Erestor in the snow with a dog on his chest. Telponnasseo grabbed the dog's scruff and pulled her back, patting her massive head. The dog put her paws up on his shoulders and licked him. Erestor scrambled to his feet and in the door, ducking behind Telponnasseo.

"What _is_ that?" Erestor asked.

"A Newfoundland dog. Very friendly, just big. She wouldn't hurt you intentionally. They're great dogs for Elflings."

"_Elflings?_ An Elfling would fit in her mouth!"

"Exactly. They're rescue dogs and draft animals. I almost drowned once, but my friend's mother kept one of these, and it pulled me out of the water."

Telponnasseo shivered slightly in the cold. Erestor remembered what Elrond had said about Telponnasseo being vulnerable to the cold for a while, at least until his body compensated for his loss of blood. Erestor pulled the silver Elf back from the door and shut it tight against the winter winds. Telponnasseo fingered the brooch on his cloak, where the cloak hung on a peg on the wall. Telponnasseo carefully removed the gold brooch from the folds of heavy, warm cloth. The rayed sun with the flower in the middle had been skillfully wrought, back in the First Age. It was a beautiful example of the handiwork of the Gondolin Elves. Erestor looked at it from a distance, as it sat glittering in Telponnasseo's hand. The firey yellow stone set in the center of the flower was beautiful to behold.

The dog sat obediently at Telponnasseo's side as the silver Elf looked at the brooch, watching the Gondolin Elf as he was lost in thought. Erestor's brooch on his cloak looked like the feathers of a wing, wrought in silver. He didn't hail from any great household, so it wasn't his family crest, it just looked nice and worked well. He looked away from Telponnasseo's brooch, suddenly feeling very small and insignificant, as he had so many times before, when standing beside Elrond, Gil-Galad, and Glorfindel. He was just Erestor of Rivendell, refugee of Eregion. He turned to walk away from Telponnasseo, but was stopped by Telponnasseo's hand on his shoulder.

"Erestor, you are a shadow Elf. It is what you have become. You are young, you do not hail from a famous house, but you are wise, and a great name is not nearly so wonderful as great wisdom. Remember that. You are quiet, but no lion roars louder when challenged." Telponnasseo whispered. "Besides. Without you my brother would be just as dead as he was when the Balrog got him. It amazes me that the Illuvatar created him without common sense, and then sent him back without correcting His error!"

Erestor smiled in spite of himself.

"Ai, you're right. Glorfindel is rather lacking in common sense." Erestor laughed softly.

"Yes, but at least you and your wife keep him somewhat grounded." Telponnasseo chuckled. "Naneth always said I had more sense than my older brother, I certainly got into fewer scrapes than he."

"And consequently lived a much duller life, brother." Glorfindel zinged, overhearing the remark about his common sense. "At least for me there has never been a dull moment."

"Nor a safe one, either." Telponnasseo replied. "Honestly, that's probably why Naneth wanted me to be a healer."

* * *

Faelon fidgeted for the thousandth time in the past hour. He was sitting in a council with the King Thranduil, the princes, and all the generals, as they listened to the latest intelligence from the eaves of the forest. He resisted the urge to sigh in boredom, as he listened to a report as it was read for the fourth time. He rolled his eyes, fidgeting again.

Thranduil sighed loudly, dropping his head to the table.

"If your reports all match, there is no need to read them individually. You want to bore the whole council to sleep before we can get anything done?" Thranduil groaned.

Faelon felt silly, understanding that it was actually a different report, not the same one again! Maybe he should have listened more closely to the sentence structure.

"Read Faelon's report so we can get to work." Thranduil said.

Here Faelon's head hit the table in embarassment and his arms covered his head.

"Lord Faelon reports that Southern Greenwood is fine except for a minor arachnid infestation. Game is plentiful, the sentries are on post, and other than a few scuffles with dwarves, all has been quiet. No Orc attacks reported."

"Good, good. In my experience this is true. I was there last weekend." Thranduil nodded in agreement.

* * *

Elrond was red in the face. He had _not _wanted to hear stories about his childhood told around the fire, and yet, here was Telponnasseo, doing just that.

"And Elrond fell overlike he was dead. Elros lost it, he thought he'd killed Elrond, and he started screaming and crying. All of the guards came running, and my friend, Adaniron, noticed there was no blood anywhere. 'How did you kill him?' he asked Elros, and Elros said he'd stabbed him with his sword. There was no blood on the sword, so Adaniron questioned that too. He picked Elrond up by his ears and scolded him for causing his twin so much mental anguish. Elrond had been playing dead the whole time, had not Adaniron's brother seen Elrond breathing, he might have succeeded in scarring Elros for life!"

Glorfindel was chuckling in the corner, while Erestor was obviously writing these tales down for his in depth history of the sons of Earendil. Melannen was laughing, resting her arms on her stomach. Elrond sat quietly fuming in the corner, dreadfully embarassed. Suddenly he grinned wickedly.

"I seem to remember a captain in Gil-Galad's army being upstaged by a herald in the Last Alliance." Elrond laughed. "We were on the slopes of Mount Doom, and there was a detatchment of Elves ahead of my detatchment, they were all in a confusion, it seems that they had lost their captain. I brought them into my detatchment and led them into battle, I didn't realize they were Telponnasseo's command, at the time. It wasn't as if any of them carried his crest. They were mostly archers with longbows, though, which did strike me as odd, and did narrow down the options of who their captain was. Well, as I'm sure Erestor can show you, those First Age helms were quite clunky, and as Telponnasseo is an Elf of the First Age, and had been raised and trained in that time, he wore one. No one else did, most had abandoned them in favor of the more modern helms. So, after the battle, we came back all bloodied and tired, and this huge figure in an ancient helm comes lumbering toward us. It was dark, we were tired, and because of its weird gait, we thought it was an Orc. I shot at it. Well, aside from being clunky, First Age armor is very hard to penetrate with an arrow. I did manage to bruise my target, though, because it yelped and screamed "PEREDHIL?!?!?!" in annoyance. Here it was Telponnasseo. He'd been hit in the head by a rock thrown by an Orc at the beginning of the battle, and it had knocked him out, concussed him. Fortunately for him, he woke up, but only after I'd walked off with his detatchment, and he'd spent the day fighting Orcs and double vision, while I led my now considerably larger contingent to victory."

Telponnasseo was laughing so hard that there were tears in his eyes. He rubbed his forehead with a grin.

"I remember that! Oh, Illuvatar, of all the things I should like to proclaim ignorance of, I remember that." Telponnasseo laughed. "I _still_ look for Orcs with rocks before going into battle. It did rather throw off my count of kills, though."

Even Erestor was chuckling as he recorded that.

Glorfindel flopped back in the cushions, laughing.

"I seem to remember the Elves in your detatchment calling you 'Little Gil-Galad', Elrond, and half the time we expected you to grow a beard like Ciridan. You acted so _old_." Glorfindel quipped.

Elrond's cheeks burned in embarassment.

"And let's not even _mention_ how he and Celebrian met. Too many youngsters around to discuss that." Telponnasseo chuckled. "It is _not_ a tale for young ears."

Elrond's eyes blazed.

"Elros put me up to it! It wasn't my fault! You should have stopped him, Silver Idiot!" Elrond exclaimed.

"Do tell, my Lords. This must be an unusually good one." Erestor said wryly, looking up from the pages he'd been writing.

* * *

Estel stood straight, groaning.

"I wish I were an Elf." he sighed.

Elladan and Elrohir looked down at the brother, from where they stood on top of the snow. He wallowed in it, waist deep. It was hard work to blaze a trail through snow. But if you wanted to go anywhere with an Elf, that was where you were going to be.

Faelon, being Half Elf, had an odd predicament himself. He didn't sink all the way into the snow, like Estel did, but he didn't walk on top of it either. He sank in about six inches, just enough to be a nuisance.

"Maybe if we held him up, we'd stay on top of the snow and he wouldn't sink?" Elrohir mused.

"No, you'd sink in six inches, just like me." Faelon said, digging around in his pack for something; he muttered: "I need to stop being so forgetful."

He pulled some things out of his pack as the twins hauled Estel up out of the snow.

"Between the four of us, we can probably figure out how to make snowshoes for Estel." Faelon said. "You know, like the feet of that hare that doesn't sink in the snow?"

Elladan smacked himself in the head.

"Ai! We passed a tree five minutes ago that had branches perfect for that!" he said. "I'll go get a few."

"How does this work?" Estel asked skeptically.

"Well, when you spread your body weight out over a wider area, you don't sink in as much. Look at Roh's feet. He doesn't weigh much, but his feet are far from tiny." Faelon said, motioning to Elrohir.

Elrohir looked a mite offended.

"Are you saying I have big feet?" Elrohir asked.

"I'm saying that they're bigger than those of a human your height. They spread your weight out better. For aught I know, Elves have hollow bones like birds." Faelon said, shrugging his shoulders.

"We do." Elrohir said. "Makes us more sensetive to weather changes before they become visible."

"Well there you have it then. Mystery solved." Faelon said, rolling his eyes.

Elladan returned with the branches in hand.

"Dan, do Elves really have hollow bones?" Estel asked the older twin.

"Some of the bones are hollow, yes, but not all." Elladan said, shaping the branch into an egg-like ellipse.

"Just like Roh's cranium, huh?" Estel muttered.

"Exactly." Elladan replied, without thinking.

The snowball in the face then came as a surprise. Elrohir's fuming look was just an added bonus.


End file.
